Garm ent-stretcher



(No-Model.)

G. H. GREGORY.

GARMENT STRETCHBR.

No. 546,422. Patented Sept.-17, 1895.

Fug. 2,

Wimmsem 3YW exfi m" Rank E M m U ITED STFiiTES PATENT OFFICE.

GEQRGE H. GREGORY, OF SOMERViLLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

GARM ENT-STRETC HER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 546,422, dated September 17, 1895. Application filed December 13, 1893. Serial No. 493 588- Gl'o model.)

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, Gnonen H. GREGORY,

a citizen of the United States, residing at the usual creases before and behind and the spring at the bottom. The stretcher also has a sliding adjustment and clamp at its upper end for fitting it to the hip portion of the trousers and is adapted to be contracted into a wedge form at. the lower end for convenience of inserting it into the trousersdeg.

'In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an stretcher, Figure 1 is a side view of the stretcher, represented as contracted into a wedge form for insertion into the leg of the trousers, and Fig. 2 represents the same as expanded and in its normal condition.

The stretcher is formed of a rod, strip, or wire, and preferably of stout steel springwire. It has in general the oblong rectangular form seen in Fig. 2, the free ends 0 c of the wire being atthe top of the stretcher,-

where they overlap and are provided with a clamp to hold them in any position in which.

they may be set. As here shown, this clamp comprises a band or sleeve D, embracing the branches on wires, and a set'screw d to set on the wires and hold them firmly. At the lower end of the stretcher an A-shaped fork is formed by bending the wire upward and then downward to form an angle and to form v a spring A at the apex thereof. Thus the lower end of the stretcher is composed of two branches, that which is applied to the front of the leg having formed on its extremity b an outwardly-curved horn F, which forms or shapes the spring at the bottom of the leg.

embodiment of my improved The upright bars B B of the stretcher form the front and rear creases of the leg.

In applying the stretcher the two fork branches at the lower end thereof are brought :together by the fiexure of the spring-wire at A andare then secured by means of a hook E on one of the branches, which is made to engage the other branch. This gives to the stretcher the form of a wedge, as seen in Fig. l, and enables it to be inserted conveniently into the trousers-leg. After it is in place the hook E is released and the upper end of the stretcher adjusted or expanded to fit the hip portion ofthe trousers. The clamp device holds the parts as set when they are adjusted; There will be two of such stretch ers employed, one for each leg of the trousers.

It will be seen that my device is adapted for stretching'the legs of trousers which vary greatly in size at the waist and hips; and the top expansion a-..5ustment by means of the clamp and the extension branches, taken in connection with spring expansion at the but tom, enables the user to get a-substantially uniform tension on the material at all points. The side bars B B are herein shown as intogral with the other parts of the stretcher; but this is not essential.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- A trousers stretcher composed of spring wire bent into a general oblong form, the ends of the wire being adj ustably secured together at one end of the oblong, and the other end .being bent inwardly from the corners so as to form a re-entrant angle, whereby its sides under compression can be made to converge, one of said corners being provided with a hook, and the other corner being bent convexly inward for engagement with the hook, when said sides have been compressed together, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand this 11th day of December, A. D. 1893.

GEORGE H. GREGORY. Witnesses:

FRAXK E. Hanson, LUTHER. M, Hui-Tsar. 

